The Roman Catholic Church hasn't survived for centuries without adapting to changing times. What's next in the US and Europe? Is the future in Africa, Asia and Latin America? Also, consumer confidence and the holiday shopping season, and the story of a New York Times reporter's escape from the Taliban -- and what his wife went through while he was gone.

FROM THIS EPISODE

The Roman Catholic Church hasn't survived for centuries without adapting to changing times. What's next in the US and Europe? Is the future in Africa, Asia and Latin America? Also, consumer confidence and the holiday shopping season, and a New York Times reporter who escaped from Taliban kidnappers wasn't the only one whose life was changed. We talk with him and his wife.

Banner image: Cardinal Roger Mahony (L) talks with his successor, San Antonio, Texas Archbishop Jose Gomez during a news conference at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels on April 6, 2010 in Los Angeles, California. Photo: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

Two months after his marriage to artist-photographer Kristen Mulvihill, New York Times correspondent David Rohde was abducted by the Taliban in Afghanistan. Since kidnapping isn't an ordeal for the victim alone, his seven months in captivity changed both their lives. They've co-written a book about their experiences, A Rope and a Prayer: A Kidnapping from Two Sides.

It's Christmas Eve, the last day of the shopping season and, despite the sagging economy, retailers have not lapsed into panicked fire sales. That's according to Kathleen Madigan, economics columnist for the Dow Jones Newswires.

On this Christmas Eve, we take another look at the evolution of the Roman Catholic Church, an ancient institution in a fast moving world. Los Angeles, America's largest Catholic Archdiocese, is now 70 percent Latino and will soon will be led, for the first time, by a bishop born in Mexico. To replace outgoing Archbishop Cardinal Roger Mahony, a relatively liberal leader of Irish-American stock, Pope Benedict XVI has named Jose Gomez, who's associated with the conservative group Opus Dei. Both facts are telling about the Church in America and the views of the Vatican. In Europe, there's talk of a "post Christian era," and two-thirds of the world's one billion Roman Catholics live in Asia, Africa and Latin America. How long will church teachings remain the same? (This segment was originally broadcast on April 12, 2010)